LETTER: Zoning Board needs to make the right decision on Oakdale project

Friday

Jul 11, 2014 at 6:00 AM

To the editor:

I intended to comment soon after the June ZBA meeting concerning the potential 40B project in Oakdale, but decided to wait until closer to the next meeting on July 29, when I hope the issues get permanently resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

I had mixed feelings after the last meeting. The lawyer for a residents' group gave a lot of information about the legal procedures with regard to 40B projects and about the zoning of the land in question. This group is trying to save a specific area in West Boylston's Oakdale section from the poor decision to build an improperly zoned 40B project on land totally unsuitable.

I was empathetic to the stress the ZBA exhibited as they tried to understand the lawyer and come up with a sensible and legal decision in light of his comments.

In my opinion, based on information I have received, Barre Savings Bank did not have the proper documents to obtain the rights to the comprehensive permit, nor to obtain an extension of said permit.

When it acquired the land, or when it conveyed the land to Mr. Ali, the permit should have been moot. Comments made by Mr. Ali's lawyer in June indicated they did not know about these documents either. Possibly due to not having this alleged paperwork in hand, his lawyer requested postponement until July.

However, the opponents' lawyer believes these documents might not exist. The comprehensive permit is null and void and became so years ago, after the land's previous owner never came back to extend it, as he alone was entitled to do.

The recent letter to the ZBA from the Mass. Attorney General's office should have been enough for the ZBA to end this matter. This letter cited violations of the Open Meeting Law by the ZBA, therefore invalidating decisions made during that time.

Due to these circumstances, the comprehensive permit is dead. The ZBA should stop sparring and vote the comprehensive permit out of the deliberation.

I'm sure the ZBA knows it was given improper advice and/or it misinterpreted facts. As a result, it should have admitted that, instead of tabling this to July, postponing the inevitable. We all make mistakes. Admit it and carry on. That is all we ask.

Therefore, regarding July 29, all that is needed is a ruling that the comprehensive permit is a worthless, invalid permit. Also, a ruling the land be used as it is zoned, for single family homes.

I admire and respect the members of the ZBA and others who volunteer to serve on various boards. I am sure it involves a lot of time and much hard work. We just want them to be fair and evaluate situations objectively.

What will be Mr. Ali's next step? I pray he makes the right one for all, including himself. He does have options; one of which would stop this and make all sides, including himself, satisfied.

With all due respect to lawyers, it would save everyone from "wasting" more money on legal fees, as is happening now. No one benefitted and nothing got resolved from the last ZBA meeting but an increase in lawyers' bank accounts on both sides. I assume that Mr. Ali would rather spend his money elsewhere.

At the upcoming ZBA meeting, I trust impartial, clear, logical and well-thought out decisions will prevail.